Vehicles & insurance
What to write down after a car accident
After a car accident, a record needs the other driver's name, contact and insurance details, the position of both vehicles before anything is moved, and the road and light conditions at the time — because the scene stops existing within minutes and almost none of it can be reconstructed later.
This page won't say who was at fault, or what any claim is worth. That turns on facts nobody here has seen, and the rules vary by state.
What it does say is what a record of a collision needs to contain, because that part is the same everywhere.
Both directions
Both drivers keep the same record. The details are identical whichever way a claim ends up running, and the driver who wrote things down at the scene is in the same position either way — able to say what happened, rather than remember it.
Write it down
The things to note, in your own words, while they are still exact.
- 01
The other driver's name, phone and address
Get it before anyone leaves. A plate number on its own can take weeks to turn back into a person.
- 02
Their driver's license number and the state that issued it
Two people can share a name. The license number and state is the pair that doesn't.
- 03
Their insurer, policy number and claims phone
Read it off the card rather than taking it verbally — an insurer's name heard once at the roadside is easy to get wrong.
- 04
The other vehicle: plate, make, model, year and color
Plates get misread and cars get repaired. Recorded together, the five details still describe the same vehicle months later.
- 05
The date, the time, and exactly where it happened
Cross street, direction of travel, which lane. "On Main Street" is not a location anybody can find again.
- 06
The road, the weather and the light
Wet or dry, dark or daylight, what the signals were doing. This is the first thing memory softens and the first thing anyone asks about.
- 07
Whether officers attended, and the report number
The number is what lets an insurer pull the report. Without it they may not be able to find it at all.
- 08
Every witness's name and number
Strangers leave and are never found again. A phone number taken in the first five minutes is often the whole difference.
Save it while it exists
The things to capture before they are moved, cleaned, edited or deleted.
- 09
A wide shot of the whole scene, before anything moves
Step back far enough to get both vehicles and the road in one frame. Once the cars are moved this shot cannot be retaken.
- 10
The damage to both vehicles, close up
Every dent and scrape on each car, from more than one angle. Damage gets repaired long before anyone disagrees about it.
- 11
Both license plates, readable
A plate you can't read in the photo is a plate you're quoting from memory.
- 12
Skid marks, debris and the final resting position
These are gone within the hour. They are also the part of the scene that describes what happened rather than what was said about it.
Related
Prefer to do it on your phone? The same list, as an app.
Open Car Accident→It saves to that device only, with no account and nothing sent anywhere. A new phone, a cleared browser or a lost handset loses everything in it. Export what matters and keep a copy somewhere else.
Reviewed September 12, 2026 · no statute cited · education on documenting, not legal advice